Mahinda Rajapaksha declares Thirukethieswaram a Sacred City for the Hindus

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared Thirukethieswaram as a Sacred City for the Hindus.

This was the first time an area where an oldest Hindu Temple is located has been declared as the sacred city in Sri Lanka. There had been many attempts in the past to get this status to the temple town, but in vain.

The Hindus in Sri Lanka and around the globe will be ever thankful to the kind act of Mahinda Rajapaksha, the locals say.

Earlier, the Hindus met Basil Rajapaksa, Senior Advisor to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force for Northern Development and brought to his notice the desolate condition of one of the oldest historical Hindu temples, Thirukethieswaram.

Subsequently he visited the Thirukethieswaram Temple and saw for himself the plight of the temple. Accordingly it was decided to allocate Rs.500 million from the Northern Province Development, Vadakkin Vasantham programme for the restoration of this temple.

Earlier in 1968, Minister S. Thiruchelvan of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchchi in his capacity as the Minister of Local Government in the UNP leader Dudley Senanayke’s Government, appointed a committee to look into the question of Thirukoneswaram sanctified Temple and the surroundings as a sacred area to Hindus. But the then Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake, threatened by the opposition by the Sinhalese chauvinists, overruled Thiruchelvan’s decision. And Thiruchelvan resigned his portfolio in November 1968 stating that Prime Minister’s action, ‘set at nought the unanimous wish of all Hindu religious bodies.”

The United National Party which was always an anti-Tamil political formation was not even prepared to allow the Hindu Minister to declare Thirukoneswaram as sanctified temple and its surroundings as a sacred area to the Hindus of this country.

But the Government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared the sanctified Thirukethieswaran temple a sacred area to the Hindus of Sri Lanka as well as to Hindus all over the world.
History of the temple

Thirukethieswaram, an ancient temple in Mathottamam, in Mannar District, is about seven miles north of the Mannar Town. According to legend, it was at this ancient temple that Kethu Bhagavan worshipped Lord Easwaram (Shiva). Hence the shrine acquired the name of Thiruketheeswaram. Iravana’s father-in-law Mayan built the temple at Thirukethieswaram North of Mannar.

Prince Rama, the founder of Rameswaram Temple, seemed to have worshipped Lord Siva at Thirukethieswaram on his return to India after the release of his wife Sita.

The Vaipavamalai, a record of historical tradition written by Mailvaganapulavar in 1736, makes positive statement that Prince Vijaya before assuming the kingship of the land, built the Koneswaram Temple at Konamalai, in the East, Santhirasegaram at Dondra Head in the South, Naguleswaram in the North and rebuilt Tirukethieswaram in the West whch had long been in ruins. The Tirukethieswaram Temple and Nagarcoil in the Eastern Coasts of Jaffna Peninsula appear to be closely associated with Nagas.

This temple in ancient time was known as Maha Thuvaddapuri. Matota later became Mantota. Mantotai or Matota later was known as Mahatittha among the Sinhalese.

This temple dedicated to the worship of the Supreme God Siva has been the most venerated for centuries and the holy waters of the Palavi Tank by its side are venerated in the sacred hymns of two great Saivite saints.

Nayanmars on the temple

Thirukethieswaram has been in hymns of Nayanmars. St. Sambanthar who lived in the seventh century has sung the glory of this temple. St. Sundarar who lived in the eight century has sung of Tirukethiewaram alone. St. Appar who was contemporary of St. Sambandar has referred to in one of his inimitable Thiruthanadakam. Seikilar in his immortal work the Periyapuranam has given description as also the historic importance of Thirukethieswaram.

Dhakshina Kailasa Manimiam and Manthai Pallu are other works that speak about Thirukethieswaram.

The groves of plantain trees in Mantota
gave delights to the Monkeys therein – St. Samabandar

The Lord Ketiswaram geat
Where the bee doth music make
In the fertile groves that lie therein -- St. Sundarar

The Holy Ash shines on His golden hue ;
He doth wear the Sacred Thread;
The fiery serpent adorns His form;
He our Lord, Shankar by name;
In one year He wears the earing white;
He dwells in Ketiswaram there,
He of Ketharam and Veeradnam in the North – St. Appar

He reached that town and dwelt in comfort
In Ila, surrounded by the raging sea
He enjoyed the sight of the Konesar Hill
And praised and worshipped and sang
The glories of the Lord of the bull.
In Matotam famous for its sky-scrapers
He worshipped the Lord of the Thirukketiswaram
There in the presence of the devotees
He received with joy a present of boundless wealth.
In Rameswaram he prayed to the glorious Lord
And offered in song in Tamilian tongue
The praise of Him that dwells therein.
And again he goes to Tirukketiswaram in Matotam
The domain of the Lord whose crest the serpent adorns;
He offers the deity garlands of words
And rises after prostration and prayer
From a distance quite afar. – Seikilar Swamigal

The temple unearthed during British time

In 1887, W.J.S. Boake read a paper on “The Excavations of Mantai “ to the Royal Asiatic Society. He speaks of the great antiquity of this port. The original site of the Temple had been razed to the ground, was traced in 1894. The “Siva Lingam” of the old shrine together with several other finds were also unearthed in 1894.

Also, in 1887 Hugh Neville, another well-known researcher, spoke about the city of Manthoddam as follows: "A renowned shrine grew into repute there, dedicated to one Supreme God symbolised by a single stone, and in later times restored from ruins by Vijaya, a Saivite. The temple was known as Thiru — Ketu — Iswaram."

According to scholar and historian, Paul E. Peiris, "... long before the arrival of Vijaya (6th century B.C.), there were five Eeswarams of Siva in Sri Lanka — Thirukethieswaram near Mahathitha, Munneswaram dominating Salamatte (Chillaw), pearl fishery Thondeswaram near Dondra, Thirukoneswaram near the great Bay of Kottiyar (Trincomalee) and Naguleswaram near Kankesantural".

In the fourth century when the Tooth Relic was brought from Kalinga to prevent it falling into the hands of a hostile king, the bearer of the sacred palladium landed at Mantota and took shelter for that night in a Hindu Temple, probably it was it was Thirukethieswaram.

The Pali Dathuwamsa does not mention the port by name but merely calls it Lankapattuna. The author probably did not want the first landing of the sacred relic of Buddha to be associated with a Hindu centre.

According to Visuvanatha Sastiyar’s “Sambavak Kurippu” - Diary of events which recorded important events of Jaffna – the sea engulfed the temple premises in 1540 and caused damages to the temple buildings. It also recorded that ‘poojas’ in the temple continued till 1589. The demolition of the Temple might have taken place about that date as the conquest of the Tamil Kingdom (Jaffna) was completed by 1591.

Soon after the friars got the broken images and the inscriptions buried in the foundations of their new church at Mantotata. When they had built their new church, they were in need of a bell and they had no metal to make it with. They told the young cowherds that if they found even a piece of metal at the foot of the trees they should come and tell them promising a cloth for each of them. In a few days one of them informed the friars of a metal finger above the ground that he was unable to pull it out. When the place was dug out twenty images of diverse sizes were unearthed and soon the bell was made.

There was wide gap in the history of the temple since the 11th century. The records of the subsequent times have not survived because of the fact that temples of Mantottam had been systematically destroyed by the Portuguese in the 16th century.

Arumuga Navalar who was responsible for the renaissance of Saivism in Sri Lanka in the 19th Century made Hindus realize that they were duty bound to rebuild this historic temple.

Following his appeal made in 1872, the exact location of the destroyed temple was traced in 1894.

The site where the temple existed previously had the appearance of a desolate mound until the end of the 19th century when the resurgent Hindu community developed a passionate interest in the Temple emerged as a result of the inspiration provided by Arumuga Navalar, the champion reformer of the Hindus.

Since the subjugation of Jaffna for a period of three centuries, Tirukethieswaram was a buried city until its consecration in 1903.

The recent history

December 13, 1893 was a red-letter day in the history of the Hindus of Sri Lanka. On that day the jungle land in the extent of 40 acres , the old site of Tiruketiswaram was brought in for public auction by the Nagarthar of Jaffna in spite of the opposition of the Catholics. The Saiva Paripalana Sabai through their treasurer S.M. Pasupathy Chettiyar spent a large sum in 1894 to trace the old site of the Temple and its premises. From thence the temple was managed by the Nagarathar of Matota, and from 1919 by the Nagarathar of Jaffna.

Subsequently the temple came under the management of the Old and New Kathiresan temples of Colombo.

The present temple Tiruketiswaram was renovated without any addition in August 1952 at the instance of Tiruketiswaram Restoration Society which was formed at the meetings of the Hindus of Colombo in October 1948.

Later the management came under a Panchayat of the Tiruketiswaram Restoration Society on which by a rule of the Society, the two temples in Colombo will always have representation.

The Society’s undertaking is one of the most important and far-reaching revival movements started in the modern times by Hindus. The Restoration Society has achieved much in the last fifteen years. Mention should be made of Sir Kanthiah Vaithianathan who is an active participant in the Restoration Movement.

As part of the civil war that has plagued the country since the Black July pogrom of 1983, the temple was occupied by the Sri Lankan Army till now. While these preparations were in progress the army took over the Temple and its environs in August 1990 and continued to occupy the same for several years. Although they have left the Temple premises their occupation of its environs is a cause of concern to the Restoration Society which has been urging the Government to remove the Armed Forces completely from the environs of the Temple.

The Thiruketheeswaram Temple Restoration Society representing the Hindus of Sri Lanka has accelerated the pace of the restoration work and plans to have the Maha Kumbhabishekam in April/May 2003.

As the political situation was not favorable in the country until the LTTE was defeated in May 2009.

Now that a favourable political environment has reemerged, the Government has come forward to rebuild the sanctified temple and make the area sacred for the Hindus.

- Asian Tribune -